What is the Point of Believing in God Without Religion?

[Astonished]

Back in the day when I was religious I went through that period of, God without religion, before binning the whole idea of God. For me I saw the Bible and all the other books of faith, I quickly looked through, as a signpost towards the "REAL" God. I was taught that through the Holy Spirit we could know God so I took that to the logical conclusion that I didn't need any help; I can just plug right into the G to get the straight dope!

Anyway it is a GREAT way to just make shit up and support it with good feelings and wooey bullshit. You might as well sew your lips to your own asshole for all the good it does.

Yay! So that is why I worship Atheos or the Invisible Pink Unicorn and sometimes the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

excellent example of how pride comes before a great fall.

I would sumize that a humble man might come at the bible and that passage with a different approach. In that if the Holy Spirit is to teach me how am I going to recognize his voice unless I know his teachings.. After all the H/S is not the only being the 'teaches.' (Mo-ham and Joseph Smith) are two good examples. So then if I am to be taught at the right hand of God if I am to be 'plugged into God' then I must first learn to hear Him or rather identify his base content as found in the bible. Once you do that you will note that you are being lead away from the things you want in favor of that, that has been written down in scripture. and later still you will note a change in that what you truly want are the thing the bible spells out as they bring you closer to God. Why? because You get far more positive interactions, a sense of contentment and well being. Answers to petitions and prayers. in essence a direct line to God. If you have ever experienced this you will want it to continue.

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As long as they don't expect me to respect them any more than I do the Westboro Baptists, the Taliban or that church two doors down from where I live that creates a significant traffic hazard for me when I try to bike through that intersection on weekends, they can call themselves whatever the fuck they want.

If you can't defend your reason for believing in what you do any better than anyone else with an irrational system of belief, really, you're no different. They may have gotten 2+2 = 5 instead of 2+2=11 like some of the fundamentalists, but they're still wrong.

It's good you keep such a tightly closed mind on such things. I'd hate for you to have an independent thought.

Like: If the Westbrough congregation are doing things outside the scope of scripture that defines and limits what a Christian is, and yet can still be counted a christian as per the 'religion.' Then it is the word or organization of 'religion' is the problem and not a group of people that go by the same name that can legitimately stand in total opposition.

No, I think it better for you to keep your mind closed, lord know what would happen if people like you were able express and propagate new and original thought. It is just far easier to label you a bigot, make fun of you and never think of you again.

Are you fucking kidding me? The Westboro Baptists are absolutely justified in doing what they do if the only criteria is the bible. Their stance on homosexuality might actually be one of the few things in the bible that doesn't get contradicted anywhere else in it. The problem is not their interpretation of the bible, the problem is the fucking bible itself. That's why it's incapable of being reformed, there's nothing to reform. You can't make a spiked suppository not cause damage just by numbing up the hole you shove it into.

So instead of making a complete jackass of yourself and using a No True Scotsmen fallacy, get with reality and understand that your bah-ble is incapable of being 'truth' and can't, by its very nature, lead you anywhere good. I mean, really, explain how something written explicitly in that book is wrong if it's infallible, or if something later came along and reversed it, how god is supposed to be utterly perfect and never make mistakes and therefore never have to change his opinion. Go on, I dare you. Otherwise don't waste my fucking time.